He will give you the desires of your heart

December 17, 2024: Recently, I heard someone on the radio talking about Psalm 37:4 ("Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.") I have thought of it a lot down through the years, but I don't know how well I have understood it, if at all. If I am listening to the radio, I am in my car on the way somewhere. I rarely listen to it in my apartment, so I am on the move when I hear something on the radio--except in the morning before I go to work. I may listen to the news at the top of the hour and then get ready to go. What difference does it make? Well, I am about to conclude that I get almost every bit of inspiration I get when I'm traveling. I am not good at sitting still. I'm not good at sitting still at all, and I suppose that is a weakness, a flaw, a problem, but it's true. Right now I'm sitting down because I am writing. If I am reading, I am sitting or standing still. I don't read nearly as much as I intend to read. Why? Because it requires sitting still for a long time. I see that the first day of winter is this Saturday. The last week before Christmas Break is progressing rapidly.I am glad because I am looking forward to getting some sleep-in time. Days off and summers are when I get a taste of what it would be like to be retired. I say I am probably as retired as I'll ever be, although I can never say what will happen in the future. As for the "desires of my heart," at this point in my life, I think I have surrendered them to God. Actively desiring anything or pursuing it, whatever it might be, has become entirely too much work, so I have settled into my employment as a tutor in an elementary school, and a regular participant in gatherings with my small church. Because of the holidays, I actually made Welsh Cakes which was a lot of work and took up practically a whole day. i still have half of the batter in the refrigerator to cook when I finish eating the ones I made for the Christmas party. There was so much stuff to eat that only about two of my Welsh Cakes disappeared, and I brought the rest home. My second recipe just about killed me this afternoon. I had to do it because it involves pecans, so I had to use them. It's Sandies from the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook. They require you to CREAM two sticks of butter with 1/3 cup of sugar, add water and vanilla, then flour and nuts. I'm telling you that is a lot of work. I ended up putting the butter into the microwave for just half a minute. It melted it more than I hoped but it took a lot of the work out of it because I don't have an electric mixer. I have always creamed things by hand, and it's very hard work. I don't think I'll do it again for about another year or so. I really did get my Welsh Cake fix the night I made them. With the lard and the butter instead of shortening they are super satisfying. Since Sunday I have had two a day, and that is quite enough. The Sandies batter has to chill for four hours. My plan was to make them tomorrow for my Bible study tomorrow night. I mean cook them tomorrow, after they have chilled more like 16 hours! But otherwise, I have no idea how I would get this done. I have been rubbing my eyes for a couple of hours, and I really need to get on to bed, but I did want to encourage you about the desires of your heart. I don't know what they are, but God knows, and all he wants for Christmas is you. What do you think about that? He just wants you to want him and then you'll see how all the other desires of your heart sort of fade away. I mean they don't fade away exactly. Sometimes you still think they are what you need or what will make you happy, and I hope you do receive the desires of your heart, but the basic desire is to be free of everything the world has to offer and be completely satisfied in Jesus, and that's the main objective, or, if it isn't, you will always be unhappy. That's just the way it is. The better goal is contentment, and that is a real gift from God. Contentment is a gift but if you don't have it you might have to work on it. That probably sounds like a contradiction, but it's not. The Bible does say we are "co-laborers with God." We work on areas of our life that are not what they should be. We realize that we need God to help us. He has given us the Helper, the Holy Spirit, but because we're in a relationship, we still may need to ask him to help. I ask him for help multiple times a day. The Bible says we should be content with food and clothing. So, there you go, sounds simple enough, right? Simple, but not easy, maybe. If you are not a Christian, you can be satisfied with satisfying your desires, whatever they are and think you don't need God, but the truth is that somewhere down the line you will notice the emptiness inside. I think it's like drug addiction or any kind of addiction. You always want more and more and every time you get the craving satisfied, the peace lasts for awhile, and then the craving starts again, like a gnawing on the inside. Mostly, we try to cover it up with a drink or with music or with some favorite pursuit, but at bottom, the craving will still be there and you might not even know that it is God calling you. It is wise to answer when God is calling you. His plan includes eternity, and simply put, that is no small matter. Sooner or later you realize we are only here for a little while, and if you're not with Jesus, what do you think happens when you die? I didn't get saved just to stay out of hell, but I will say that the dream of hell I had was a pretty good motivator, and I thank God for it. When you get Christ you get both now and forever. If you don't get Christ, you might get now but not forever, and the prospect of eternity without Christ is the most fearful thing I can imagine. Of course you can just say, "I don't believe any of that. When I die, I die." Not true. You don't. You remain conscious forever, and the Bible says the place that is not heaven is not somewhere you want to go. You don't want to spend one minute there, much less the rest of eternity. I guess people just choose to go there. God doesn't send them there, but it is there for whoever does not repent and choose to follow Christ, who died and went to hell for us, in our place. That, of course, is not a popular message, but it just happens to be the truth. So, back to Psalm 37:4, that refers to this life and the one to come, I believe. I am sure heaven is going to be wonderful and I hope God will find me a good and faithful servant, but meanwhile I am still here, and since I live alone I have a lot of time to think about all of these things and a lot of time to mull them over in my mind and talk to God about them, but this life is only temporary. I want both this life and the one to come with God and with God's people, and I find that very rewarding and worthwhile. "Delight yourself in the Lord,and he will give you the desires of your heart." That sounds like a promise, something I can entrust to the Lord. It will be different for everyone but we all have desires of the heart. Some of them we may actually have to surrender to God before he can fulfill them. I know that's kind of deep and mysterious, but that's where a lot of things are for me right now, just trusting in the Lord and looking to him. I don't do everything right, I don't measure up to even my expectations for myself, but I know the Lord is always with me, filling me with his Spirit and keeping me and I will rejoice in that, even as many of my dreams seemk to fade away. Like the old song says, "I don't know what the future holds but I know who holds the future," or something like that. I am fading fast. Goodnight.